Wisconsin Builder - The A List

City lights

La Crosse revamps road most traveled

Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center's new East Building is a $44 million, six-level facility that will add to the company's century-old La Crosse headquarters. Gunderson is also eyeing a three-story, 100,000-square-foot addition at its Onalaska clinic to make room for a kidney dialysis center and office space.

La Crosse county

Gunderson Lutheran spurs county’s growth

Skirted by Interstate 90 and Highway 16, the city of Onalaska is in the midst of a building boom that city leaders predict will add $60 million in tax base to the community of roughly 15,000.

And farther northwest, home building in Holmen is outpacing almost every other community in the state.

"We're seeing quite a lot of activity outside the actual city limits of La Crosse," said county planner Charlie Handy.

Leading the way is health-care provider Gunderson Lutheran Inc., which expects to start a major expansion of its Onalaska clinic this fall.

Gunderson is almost finished with a 213,000-square-foot, six-level building that will expand its century-old, city of La Crosse headquarters. But that $44 million project has not prevented the company from expanding or renovating some of its 26 satellite clinics in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

In Onalaska, Gunderson will add a three-story, 100,000-square-foot addition to its clinic, making room for a renal dialysis center and office space. That $18 million project is spurring new plans for a nearby 150-room hotel and conference center, as well as an assisted-living housing facility for seniors and people with disabilities. All of it will be on Gunderson's 35-acre campus.

In total, the city expects Gunderson to bring $48 million of new construction to town. As an added incentive, the city is working out a plan to kick in $5 million for a 168-stall parking ramp and a small road between the clinic and the hotel, said Jason Gilman, Onalaska land-use and development director. That money should be recouped over time through higher tax revenues.

Other projects in Onalaska are gearing up too. Wal-Mart is building a 205,000-square-foot Supercenter that will open in spring 2004 near the I-90/Highway 16 interchange. And First Federal Savings Bank is forming plans to build its corporate headquarters on a nearby site.

"With the low interest rates and the strength of economy in this area, there's a lot of interest in work that's going to be done in the next year or so," Handy said.

Holmen's residential growth could spawn other construction. The schools, in particular, are reaching their limits, district officials said.

But last April, district voters — in keeping with state trends — rejected a three-part, $24.7 million referendum that asked for a new school and remodeling for some of the older structures. Whether school officials will try again hasn't been decided.

County Demographics

2001 Population estimate: 107,705
Population change, April 1, 2000-July 1, 2001: 0.5%
People under 5 years old, 2000: 5.9%
People under 18 years old, 2000: 23.6%
People 65 years old and over, 2000: 12.5%
Female people, 2000: 51.5%
White people, 2000: 94.2%
Black people, 2000: 0.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native people, 2000: 0.4%
Asian people, 2000: 3.2%
People of Hispanic origin, 2000: 0.9%
High school graduates, people age 25+, 2000: 89.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher, people age 25+, 2000: 25.4%
People with a disability, age 5+, 2000: 14,426
Housing units, 2000: 43,479
Homeownership rate, 2000: 65.1%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2000: $96,900
Households, 2000: 41,599
People per household, 2000: 2.45
Median household money income, 1999: $39,472
Per capita money income, 1999: $19,800
People below poverty, 1999: 10.7%

Geography Facts

Land area, 2000 (square miles): 453 People per square mile, 2000: 236.6 Metropolitan area: La Crosse

Business Facts

Private nonfarm establishments, 1999: 2,939
Private nonfarm employment, 1999: 56,107
Private nonfarm employment, change 1990-1999: 17.1%
Nonemployer establishments, 1999: 5,033
Manufacturers' shipments, 1997 ($1,000): 1,382,650
Retail sales, 1997 ($1,000): 1,452,613
Retail sales per capita, 1997: $14,230
Minority-owned firms, 1997: 2.3%
Women-owned firms, 1997: 26.4%
Local government employment full-time equivalent, 1997: 4,463

By Seth Ansorge

A century-and-a-half ago, a mule-powered treadmill ferry was the "modern" way to cross the Mississippi River from La Crosse into Minnesota.

Times change.

Now, more than 19,000 vehicles traverse the two-lane Cass Street Bridge daily, either to connect with U.S. Highway 14/61 or to reach downtown La Crosse. And that figure is expected to rise 50 percent in the next 20 years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Even with the Interstate 90 Mississippi River crossing offering a faster alternative only a few miles north, the Cass Street Bridge is reaching a critical mass, said La Crosse Mayor John Medinger.

"We've struggled with traffic there for decades," he said. "It can really bottleneck, especially if there's any kind of an accident, even a fender-bender."

In January, after a decade of planning, crews started work on the solution — a second, 2,600-foot, two-lane bridge that will run parallel to the 1939 structure locals affectionately call Big Blue.

At $40 million, the new bridge — located about half a city block south of the old — will carry eastbound traffic into La Crosse. The older structure will become a two-lane artery into Minnesota.

The WisDOT-led project is well under way and should wrap up in late 2004. After that, the old bridge will temporarily shut down for repairs that should keep it functional for another 25 years, Medinger said.

Besides easing congestion, the new bridge could energize new development along the riverfront and downtown, said La Crosse senior planner Tim Kabat.

Already, plans are forming to turn Barron Island — a large tract at the southern juncture of the Black, La Crosse and Mississippi rivers — into a destination, complete with new hotels, extended-stay facilities and more retail outlets.

Important components of the new bridge project, in fact, are the bike lanes and pedestrian walkways linking La Crosse to the picturesque island.

"The idea is to bring that whole area more into downtown La Crosse, to make it an extension of the city itself," said La Crosse County Planner Charlie Handy.

And east of the river, officials hope the bridge will draw even more interest to La Crosse's revamped city center.

Throughout the 1990s, the city and private developers sunk "tens of millions of dollars" into restoring nearly 100 building facades and aged structures, Kabat said. The work evidently paid off — in 2002, La Crosse garnered the prestigious Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historical Preservation.

"It has been quite an investment," Kabat said. "As a city, we're pretty much landlocked by the river and the bluffs, so we've really been trying over the last decade to revitalize the city."

Those efforts include the Pearl District, a trendy area marked by shops and new residential development spearheaded by developer T.J. Petersley. And developer Jay Hoeschler is laying plans for an apartment complex and 55-unit extended-stay hotel nearby.

Other projects in La Crosse are noteworthy. Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center is building a $44 million, six-level addition at its south side campus. And several municipal projects, including multimillion dollar improvements to a south side fire station, a community center and a library branch, are being considered for the years ahead.

But by far, the new bridge, with its sleek, single-span arch, is capturing the attention — and imagination — of locals.

And that's hardly a surprise for a city whose history is so connected to the nation's grandest waterway.

In 1890, the first wagon bridge that touched down on La Crosse's Jay Street was, at the time, the world's longest cast-iron swing, or turnstile, bridge. In 1939, four years after a fatal car accident knocked that bridge's east abutment into the river, 15,000 people celebrated the opening of what was then the largest cantilever, or protruding, bridge in America.

Those events helped shape La Crosse's past. Medinger said he's curious how the new bridge will fit into city lore.

"People are very fond of that old bridge," he said. "There's a lot of nostalgia. It will be interesting to see this very modern structure go up next to the old one."